Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Years ago, the Deputy had a very distinguished career as a broker in forecasting the future.

With regard to Ireland's current position, we have regained a certain level of reputation. People in Ireland, be they private individuals or public servants, have made enormous sacrifices for this country, many of them deeply unpleasant and difficult for families, individuals and businesses. We are working our way out of that. The biggest difficulty, as the Deputy knows and writes about, is the current difficulties in the eurozone. When the agreement with the troika comes to an end, the Government will, as with all such agreements, seek an orderly exit from it. However, that depends on us being able to interact with the market.

The Deputy cited Dr. Michael Somers, a man with a very strong and independent mind. His successors in the current NTMA are also independent in the exercise of their functions. The Deputy says the recent bond sale is of no significance. Actually, as the Deputy knows well, progress in the markets is made up of small and significant steps, and the bond sale is one such step. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are perfectly right to cite that when speaking to an American business audience, as they are also right to tell Irish people here that it is a small but positive step. What if no one was buying our bonds?

Deputy Ross will recall that the new governor of the ECB has a policy of financial easing with regard to liquidity and banks. That was not only widely welcomed in the eurozone but was sought by countries such as the United States and by other international observers of the eurozone crisis. The small steps are positive. Would we like to have more steps? Absolutely. Are we pleased that Mr. Hasenstab has invested some of his funds in Ireland? On balance, that is a positive step. If no one was investing anything in Irish bonds, we would not have the basis for a slow but steady take-off. That is what we are hoping will happen and if it coincides with easement in the case of movements in the eurozone, that could be tremendously positive for this country.

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